genessia | 1st Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Video

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1st Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Video

[When he wakes up, he still believes he's in Nautilus. The last he remembers is going to sleep with Leanne like usual, did something happen? Another storm? Something worse? He can't remember anything else but there must have been something since not only he wakes up in a place he doesn't recognize but he is also wearing his armour.

It's not until he finds the hologram that he understands what has happened, and those sensible to Cosmo, ki or similar energies will most likely feel a huge burst of energy as Ikki's Cosmo rages. To his credit he doesn't damage anything in the area. But it takes everything he has to not do so. Kidnapped again, this time more blatantly and without made up excuses about there having been a call. It was bad the first time, but this time is even worse. Apparently he's not allowed to continue fighting to save Athena and Seiya, nor he's allowed to have a family and a "normal" life.

He makes his way out, with his Phoenix Cloth on and carrying its Pandora box on his back. He doesn't bother to try to use his Cosmo to reach anyone for he doubts that whoever is responsible of this would be so kind as to let him reunite with anyone he knows and cares about. It's not until he reaches the beach that a thought occurs to him which leads him to strip down his armour and shirt, so he can check his right shoulder and confirm that the tattoo that Ace made for him is still there. A red spade (from the cards) surrounded by two flaming wings, one blue, the other orange, and with what seems like a white crescent moon crossing over it, the only thing he has, aside from his memories, to remember his time in Nautilus. It brings some relief to his heart, but it does nothing to calm his temper, so he goes on to strech his joints and muscles, giving anyone watching the video a nice show without realizing it. It's not the coliseum he's used to, but the beach seems like a good enough place to do some improvised training.

It should help to release his anger.]

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If it wasn't because it feels somehow so "right" I would think you're an enemy who has put a spell on me or something to enchant me.

[Because he has only felt such a strong and quick connection, the wish to know more to be with the other more, twice before, when Shun was born and when he got his Cloth. He frowns as the other takes a breath, he's smiling but somehow...]

Something isn't right. Your smile... What are you trying to hide?

[Is the other actually an enemy after all? No, it's something else, somehow Ikki really can't bring himself to think that Marco is an enemy for longer than half a second. Like when he couldn't think of killing Shun being the only option to stop Hades. And it's weird because Marco has already said so much, talking about another live where they met, another reality, that's the kind of stuff one would hide from others, isn't it? So what is that he's keeping?]

Sparky? You mean, Ace? Is that how you call him?

[Anyway he nods at the idea of getting drinks, if he can't destroy something... Maybe drinking will do.

As Marco goes on, Ikki tilts his head in curiosity, eyes sparkling when he hears that someone else, someone named Namur, will remember him as well. He doesn't know Namur, but he remembers the name, another brother of Ace, and he wants to meet them already. He's curious as to that life where he met them even if he also dreads it because it sounded like Leanne was with someone else in that one. Did Naesala make her happier?

He nods when Marco mentions the posibility of staying with him and his wife, not really aware of doing it until the words come out of his mouth.]

I want to stay with you.

[The moment he says it, though, he blushes because... It's just not right.]

No, I mean... Well, if you think it would be okay. But I don't want to be a bother, and if your wife doesn't know me or... I don't know you so maybe it wouldn't be a good idea? Not that I really mind. Staying or not I mean.

[How the hell does he dig himself out of this hole???!

Oh, back to phoenix. Phoenix is good. Saying things in phoenix, even when they are embarrashing doesn't bother him so much. Probably because only few people, Leanne and now Marco, really understand what he says.]

Well... How about you start with the tattoo? You said my tattoo was different, did I get one when I met you?

[It's silly but it makes him curious and he looks at his tattoo.]

I told Ace I wanted one. Something like his Whitebeard tattoo. Something that would say "brother", but I didn't know either of you or your father so I didn't want his tattoo. It felt too presumptuous. So I asked him to design something that would fit, or maybe just a symbol of being a Spade pirate since he was my captain too. Though we didn't really have a crew nor sailed around...

He came up with this, the Spade for himself, the blue wing for you because it screamed "phoenix" in his opinion alongside the orange wing for me. And the Whitebeard moustache... I still feel that may have a step too far but I liked it so...

[He tenses instantly at the question, stomach knotting, and slowly shakes his head.]

[Not even Thatch was that good at reading him.]

I can't tell you until...

[Until he started razing the city? It wouldn't do much good then.]

[He shakes out his hair with his hand.] Food first.

And yeah, Sparky is Ace. And when things just... settle we can talk about the rest.

[The dark fires in Marco's eyes.]

[The phoenix anger and rage.]

[But he grins as Ikki starts being tsundere and just winds up tousling his hair instead.]

Don't worry about it, she'll understand, and I'll take care of everything.

[And a beam at the tattoo.]

It's perfect, yoi! I love it.

[And he shows off his own modified tattoo with a closed loop up top.] We changed it when I added Grell and Espio. Heartbreaking meeting that. Heh. But we all got Spades for Ace on another world. Well, not Grell, she was a separate captain there. And Thatch doesn't remember yet, but I didn't remember that world either for a very long time here.

[Ikki frowns at that and, blame Leanne, but he's going to coo at Marco in clear worry and upset.]

Until when? Until I gett settled here? Or until it's too late? Something worries you, beyond just your wife being kidnapped. I can tell that much... I think.

You said you needed me and pulled at everything you knew for me to come, I really doubt you're the type to do that unless you really need it. Unless you're desperate so...

[He coos again and expands his Cosmo towards Marco, to envelop the older phoenix in his own flames and energy to try to soothe him back. It's what Leanne would do and... It's what he wants to do.]

If I remembered you, if that world were we met was fresh in my mind, would you tell me? Or would you wait as well? Because if you would tell me, then, even if I'm not that Ikki, treat me like him. Because even without knowing you I can tell, something inside me is tugging and I haven't felt that for someone ever since Shun was born.

So just trust me. I won't fail you.

[He blushes even more when Marco says he shouldn't worry, that's like telling someone to not breathe! And he doesn't want to blush, to feel so open with this stranger but... He's not a stranger, his soul feels it so that's why he can't just put stops to everything. And it makes him get even redder and look away as if trying to shrink.]

Glad you approve of it. I love it as well.

We got Spades? So Ace was our captain? But you don't have a Spade now, do you?

[That worries Ikki, mostly because it means that even if he has the memories he could be missing the tattoo and he had got it so he wouldn't lose that!]

[GUH. Way to hit him in the feels!]

[He WOULD tell Ikki if he was remembered. Because he was scared. And so scared he even half mentioned it Dohko!]

[He's bright red and flustered. He wouldn't tell Robin, or anyone else. But Ikki wouldn't laugh or dismiss it.]

[It was stupid. He wasn't in danger of being Ares now, right?!]

[Except that...]

[It didn't go away that easily.]

That is absolutely cheating, yoi!!!

[But despite hiding in a facepalm, he's kind of proud of Ikki too, and lets it show.]

Marco stands for Mars. For Ares.

My father devoted his whole life to teaching me a better way to live, not to kill and destroy indiscriminately, but the days I lost Grell... I scared even myself.

Ikki, this is not something I have told even my wife, or my brothers.

[And he moves his arm out of the sleeve to show off the spade tattoo on his left arm.]

So much so, I was keeping this secret from them until the night Grell was rescued and returned.

Ace was captain, but when he left, I took over. I lied to Namur to pretend I wasn't with him in that world, because that was the only place I considered such a connection between me and the god, the weapon of war. It has always been a part of me, but I could ignore it in all other places. I am Captain here, but even Thatch has had to remind me repeatedly of my father's ways.

The night we freed Grell, I made plans for her kidnappers to be whisked away and taken to the forest to be tortured. And I don't regret that at all. If they are ever out of jail, I'll see to it, and I'm still trying to find ways to send someone to break them on the inside. I'm more angry that the Guardian of the city stopped me. Even now, though I don't wish to reign war on the whole city, I very much wish to start several gang wars, consequences be damned.

I am not lost yet. Else I would not tell you this, but I understand if you wish to... No, if you need to back away now.

[But he holds up a hand.]

But know this. Leanne has seen me at my most angry and hurt, and reached me in ways no one else could. I would fight the stars themselves for her, I will never hurt her, not even with my chaos. So if you are her mate now, that is a relief, and maybe why this version of you, without remembering me and all is here, eh?

[He knows it's cheating, he's pretty much borrowing Leanne's techniques to get him to soothe and talk openly as well as blatantly aiming for something he suspected. That if he remembered Marco their meeting by now would be having a far different tone. It wouldn't bother him so much if not because it was clear the other needed it... And that's kind of scary, that he could see that so easily despite not knowing Marco, despite not remembering him.

Makes him feel that if he knew the man he would be noticing it far more.

He listens in silence as Marco explains, the only reaction he shows is when his frown increases at the mention of Ares. There's no doubt that Marco knows him and this is probably something they have already talk about, at least Marco and that other Ikki, because it doesn't seem like Marco would draw the connection of Mars and Ares otherwise. He wishes he would remember, so he would know what he had said back then, had he helped Marco? Or had he made it worse?

Marco said he needed his help so it seemed as if he had helped him but... He's Ikki, the phoenix. The man who would give up the world a thousand of times before giving up on a brother. If that Ikki considered Marco a brother... A brother that may as well be the vessel for the god of war, even if it's in another world, that hardly makes a difference for him. Except that maybe he's not a vessel, maybe he just is. It's not like with Shun where there was his brother and then there was Hades, but closer to Saori, who was born to be Athena, who was born as Athena, and only given another name when she had to be taken away to protect her life.

Now he gets it, why Marco wanted him. Why Marco needed him. Because he can understand that, even leaving aside the idea of the gods, he can understand the wish, the want to just... Make the whole world burn. Not explode but burn. To see it destroy itself from the inside out, little by little but without pause, until there's nothing left, until it's all just ashes and to not give a damn about it. About having caused it, about having allowed it. If the world hurts you, just hurt it back a thousand times more, until it doesn't just regret having hurt you but regrets having come to exist to begin with.

What did the other Ikki tell Marco? What did he feel? What did he think when Marco first talked about this? Was Marco feeling so much at the edge as he's feeling now? He doesn't know, he can't know and... He can't go without answering this. He can't wait to see if he will recover those memories or if there's a way to find out. And even if he could? He doesn't want to, because fuck that other Ikki, fuck that other world. It's him here right now, the Ikki that married Leanne, the Ikki that has tried to bend the universes themselves to his whims. Can he help Marco? Yes, he can, there's no doubt of that. No, the doubt, the real question is... Can he help the world against Marco if the others' fears come to be?]

[When Marco is done, Ikki reaches out with his hand, slowly wrapping it around Marco's head.

And then he headbuts him. Hard.]

That's for daring to think that you can go without telling me that. For daring to think that I would need time to fucking understand that.

As for the rest? Bring it on. Do you want to drown this world into a cycle of constant wars without reason? Just try, because I won't let you. Not without a fucking good reason for it. And as much as I understand the pain of having your wife taken? That's not enough to destroy the world, so work up something better.

I'm an Athena Saint, my duty is to protect her and the world. But I do so by waging war against others, because Athena is also the Goddess of War, just like Ares. The difference is that her wars have a meaning, an objective beyond destroying everything around her. Do you want to wage a war? Fine, but do it the way she does, or I'll personally stop you and rip out the Ares in you with my own hands.

So what if your name stands for Mars? You could have been born to be a weapon of war and destruction for all I care. It doesn't matter. You aren't Ares. You won't be Ares. I'll stop you before that happens.

[He pauses for a moment, closing his eyes for a second after staring right at Marco's eyes for the whole of it.]

But... If you have a good reason to wage war. If you do it as Marco, as the phoenix so that everything that is destroyed will rise again.

Or if anyone dares to decide that you're a threat. That the risk is too big for what you could do. Then... I will help you destroy this world.

I will fulfill my duty as a Saint, but only so long as it doesn't cost me the life of a brother. Is that clear?

OW!

Did you HAVE to use haki?!

[Rubs his forehead, but listens quietly. He did want to drown the world in constant wars but...]

[He flushes at the reprimands, and then softly smiles and nods.]

Mmn. Let's get drinks, brother.

[Hugs his arm around Ikki's shoulders and leans his head against his.]

I'm still not telling almost anyone about that part yet, eh? So just you for now. And Leanne if she picks it right from your brain.

How else am I going to make sure it hurts you?!

[His expression softens as Marco smiles and mentions the drinks again. And when he hugs him, Ikki wastes no time hugging back, tightly.

It's funny, for a moment when he arrived he felt ready to set the place ablaze. He felt he wanted to but... Meeting Marco, hearing him say that, made Ikki think again, about his duty and his own feelings. He doesn't know if he has helped Marco even a bit but... He knows he will do all he can, whatever the outcome is. And right now all he wants is to have drinks with his new brother.]

Idiot. I will outright kill you if you tell anyone else. No one else needs to know, not when I'm here now for you.

Unless you think I'm not good enough.

You're going to have to lead the way to get some drinks, I don't know this place and can't use Cosmos to track alcohol.

[Blushes again! But laughs and noogies him hard.]

You're more than enough!! In all the universe and multiple timelines I've only got ONE phoenix brother. You!

[Gently chuffs him with a fist to his cheek and grins more.]

Not a problem. Besides I'm about to be publicly fired by my wife anyway, so drinking during the day will just be the right kind of PR. [A+ LOGIC!!!]

[He wrestles against the noogying but then Marco says that and... Ikki blushes, and kind of pouts as he tries to keep a straight face and not glow with pride because he shouldn't do it. He barely knows Marco, he doesn't know Marco. Why does it fill him with stupid pride to be the "one phoenix brother"?]

Huh... I suppose then I have no choice but to fulfill my duty as your phoenix brother. Since you have only got me for that particular role.

[No, he's not being cute, shut up.]

Wait, fired? Why is she going to fire you? What was your job?

Damn right. [Pokes his cheeks. He's adorable, and Marco is thrilled to be able to baby him again, because no one ever really babied Ikki enough. And despite being the oldest, Marco is babied whenever he wants. SO HE KNOWS.]

Deputy Guardian of Everglade. I set a building on fire and threatened another city when she was kidnapped. Honestly, that was completely restrained. I wanted to wage a war on five fronts, torture the hell out of some incompetent lowlifes, and start roughing up the police force or set it on fire until people started talking. But I didn't. [And carve letters into people's chests to send a message but...] Instead, I pulled on the strings of the universe trying to find her and make sure we were still secured together, pulled in Namur's crazy ex-girlfriend and Grell's friend: Rip, Dohko the Libra Saint possibly, Ash, an alternate timeline version of my son maybe, and I even warned Kitten -- Grell, that others might be coming. I was a bit freaked out. To say the least.

Grell's an immortal. [Finger over his lips and sly grin.] So before I got my head on right I was a bit panicked over who could even hold her away from me, eh.

The other people here will likely be a bit annoyed. And I was purposely antagonizing a lot of them to see what shook loose. So remember that before you go bragging about your allegiance.

[STILL SLY GRINS, as he leads Ikki towards drinks and food.] Kitten has her way of politicking, but it's never been my style. [His expression softens and dims slightly.] Well, my way is war and vengeance, so...

But this is good. It means I'm free to do as I please now. And I shall.

[He's still going to try to find a way to break the culprits brains' inside of prison.]

Besides, she's right to. I failed her. Not as a husband, but as a deputy. As her husband I let her handle everything, and took it for granted she could handle it all so I could just play enforcer. I'm already hiring someone to help me familiarize with the Everglade vampires and other non-humans, but I was being the ultimate phoenix again.

Never forget this Ikki, whatever universe and world you're in, it's always important. The most dangerous thing you can do as a phoenix is lay back and let the world slip by around you. You'll lose yourself. Even if you keep your family close to keep your centered, it's too easy to withdraw. I did after my Pops, Thatch, and Ace died. I was in another world and there was nothing to make me be human anymore or care about anything. Grell saved me. She needed me as much as I needed her, and she reminded me that being immortal doesn't just mean outliving everyone, you still have more you can do, more choices to make in that than anyone else.

But that's what I was doing. Too much. People asked me her enemies, and I couldn't tell, because I didn't know them all. Just that they existed, and I hadn't considered them worth noticing before. People asked me where she'd been, what she'd been doing, and I couldn't tell them that either. When I had to ask people in my own city what they knew, no one knew anything, including me.

But I'm going back to being a pirate captain. I will pay more attention to Grell's politics, but I need to be outside of it for that.

Edited 2018-03-12 01:09 (UTC)

[he wrestles a bit against the poking but only half-heartly. He won't say it out loud but... Somehow it feels nice when Marco does that, when he treats him that way.

But then he listens as Marco goes on about what happened and what he did. And Ikki raises an eyebrow at all that.]

I can's say I don't see why you would freak out like that, at least.

Whaaat? I can't brag about having a sparkling pineapple brother? What will I do with my life now?

[Excuse the sarcasm, Marco. But Ikki just doesn't feel at all surprised that he should be careful regarding bragging about his allegiances... And he doesn't really care about what the rest of the world thinks anyway. If he feels like bragging about that and someone has a problem with that, the problem is theirs alone. And if they bring it to him... He will gladly make it a real problem for them.

But really, he has no intention of bragging. He had no intention of even really socializing if not because you dropped from the sky and the smartphone decided to record him on its own. As for the rest...]

You know... Part of me worried a bit about being a control maniac or something for how I always try to know where Leanne is, what she's doing and with who she is. But hearing you say all that makes me think that I should do it even more.

[At least he would have a general idea about when she went missing or where she was, and so on. But he isn't going to fault Marco for that either, maybe he would have made the same mistakes.]

Hell, I had started to think that maybe I was worrying too much about those things, that I should relax a bit. And now I come here and all this happened to you... It's like somehow everything was planned. So that you would have me here before you slip further on. So that I learn of the dangers of relaxing back and taking things for granted just because my wife has a long life ahead of her.

[He headbutts Marco lightly, almost playfully.]

Being outside of all that sounds as if it suits you better, anyway. And it may help for you to actually be better informed. Don't know what I could do to help but you can count with me too.

[Headbutts him sideways right back and laughs.]

Well... don't go overboard.

[Because he remembers how it drove Ikki a bit mad with Selphie.]

Leanne is not completely stupid, and she's less reckless than my kitten. Do you know how I decided I had to marry Grell? She bit my tail feathers. Hurt like a motherfucking bitch. No one's ever done that! Not even ACE! I decided I'd have to kill her or marry her right there on the spot. I just decided marriage might be more interesting. Lucky for me. Five worlds we've been to, and she's never been taken from me before. She's lost me. I flit in and out of worlds sometimes looking for my brothers, and other times I've come very close to losing her for good, but I never had to live a day without her before. So I took it for granted, yoi.

The Leanne I knew may seem naive, but she could make her own kidnappers cry, and force them to let her go. Ironically, she probably could have fought her way to freedom before Grell. Grell's more... chainsaws and whips and bloody roses. Stylistic approach difference. And everyone's got their weaknesses. That's where Leanne would shine.

But Leanne also wouldn't be making enemies like Grell either.

I'm not saying let your guard down, but keeping a low eye on her cosmos if she comes should be more than enough. Annnnd maybe making sure she's never alone. Grell, like I said, she's immortal, so it's not like we ever thought she'd be in danger, eh?

But even Ash has his pokemon, so he's not that much in danger. People overhype the danger of this place usually.

Still, you might be right. Maybe both of us need to start getting better at being phoenixes and whatever that entails.

Not completely stupid? Less reckless? Are we talking about the same Leanne or are the one you know and the one I know different ones after all?

She ran, alone in the middle of the night to meet a guy who had threatened and scared her because they claimed to need her help. She went alone! Without telling anyone! By the time she contacted me she was hurt, terrified and almost traumatized enough that I had to spend a whole week awake with her in her room, keeping watch so she could sleep and rest!!

[Dude, seriously, telling Ikki his wife isn't stupid is like telling him the sky doesn't look blue.

Listening to Marcoi definitively makes Ikki wonder if his Leanne wasn't so reckless and naive because of his influence, maybe if she had married someone else she would have been more capable? But no, that happened before they got married!]

And getting better at being husbands, maybe. So that our wives aren't dissapointed on us.

[....]

Okaaaaaaaay fair enough. That is... definitely her, yoi. I forgot we were on a ship, so she couldn't exactly go anywhere without the rest of us, and none of us exactly let her wander any islands alone given the slavers.

Two rules if she comes, never alone, and always keep her comm on her.

And I might have Kitten build her a backup system just in case. Something she can wear and press if something happens, eh?

And maybe we can have Ace take up being a bodyguard. If he doesn't punch everyone that so much as looks at her sideways.

[Ikki just nods, a bit glad to hear that it was mostly due the setting they were in than anything else that the Leanne Marco knew hadn't done anything like that.]

The reason why I started to keep an eye on her Cosmos at all times was precisely because of that event. I had vowed to her that I would protect her and be with her and that she should call me if she needed anything, specially because we lived in the same place and our rooms were basically one in front of the other! But she still went alone because she "didn't want to bother me". So I decided that she wasn't allowed anymore to decide what I should or shouldn't know about her whereabouts, because I'm sure the only reason she didn't die was because the asshole was like a scientist and preferred his subjects alive.

If we had been isolated in a ship that shit wouldn't have happened.

[And the ship part sounded quite cool, too.]

I like the idea of a backup system or something, even if knowing her I'm sure she wouldn't use it until too late.

[Facepalms.]

[And yeah, he's been planning to get a ship and turn it into a bar + hotel. But with Grell being Everglade's Guardian...]

At least it wasn't because Grell didn't want to bother me... just didn't think it necessary. And normally, it wouldn't have been. All right, new rule, and you and I will have to be role models -- no, forget it, they still won't stick to it.

[Frustrated gnarled exasperated note!]

So we lie and tell them we want Ace protected because of how many times he's died and all his stupid fire shenanigans and restlessness. In return, we hire Ace as a professional bodyguard. We'll have to work something out for off shifts, but it's the best plan I can think of for now.

See, it would have bothered me still if she just hadn't considered it necessary, but to be told that she didn't want to be a bother when it ended causing her so much pain and then me having to be there and watch over her. She still had trouble at first being with Zoro and Ace after it.

[So basically she ended being far more of a bother than if she had called him in the first place.]

And then there was that time when some virus was spreading and making people sprout flowers and plants and eventually turned them into fucking trees. And I told her to leave to a city that was safe or back to her world, because back there we could do that, but she refused so I had to use my Cosmo to try to protect her from sprouting. And it still failed and she got sick despite it because she was all around infected people.

[Which, if it had been just Sanji or Zoro he could have understood, but it wasn't just them.]

... Wait, because of "how many times he has died"? Has... Has Ace died again while he was here or something?

[The distress is clear in Ikki's voice at that. What, didn't his brother have enough having died once that he had to die more times?]

Aye...

Relax, eh. If she turns into a tree, we'll sing her back. And no. He's just as hard to hold onto as a handful of flames. No matter how many times I find Ace, it seems like he's always a different spark, spread all out. Always Ace, always, yoi, but time and memories, what he remembers, what he doesn't, it gives even me a headache. Namur and I just take it for granted. He's less death-seeking than Thatch though, and that's saying something given his Wildfire tendency to want to burn free and then out.

Still, having someone nearly always with him wouldn't hurt. So long as he doesn't think it's because we don't trust him.

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